English and Korean Speakers’

In this study, I carried out a quasi-experimental task that attempted to examine some aspects of the Sapir/Whorf hypothesis; namely, the extent to which the grammar of one’s language affects one’s way of thinking about the experienced world. A task was designed to evaluate the influence that language operates on the mind of native English and Korean speakers in the categorization of spatial actions. Population of the study consisted of 40 participants: 20 NSs of English (10 males and 10 females) and 20 NSs of Korean (10 males and 10 females). Participants were asked to choose between two pictures (A or B), the one that best matches a third one (C). Although most of the results obtained were not in the predicted direction and do not support the Whorf hypothesis in this particular context, the study raises questions about the psychological effects of a language on the identity of its speakers in times of widespread English learning. The study also calls for more controlled research that takes into consideration some of the issues that this study has brought to surface.